I am raising money for The Sick Children's Trust as without them, an incredibly tough time would have been even harder.

Our daughter Agnes was diagnosed with a Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia at her 20 week scan. From that moment, our lives went on hold. CDH is a condition where the baby doesn't develop a full diaphragm whilst in the womb, causing some of the internal organs to push up into the chest cavity, which severely limits the development of the heart and lungs.

There is no definitive reason as to why CDH occurs, but the approximate survival rate is around 50%. All we could do was wait until she was born and hope that she had developed at least enough to make it through the first few days.

To cut a long story fairly short, after Agnes' birth she needed intensive care at Leeds General Infirmary in the Neonatal Unit to stabilise her and see if her one good lung had developed enough to allow her to breath at least a little bit on her own   She then had to go through two pretty large surgeries to move everything back into place and repair the hole in her diaphragm. Thankfully, little Agnes battled through her surgeries, as well as all of the other complications thrown her way and made us two of the proudest parents in the world.

The reason that I am running for The Sick Children's Trust is that throughout the seven weeks Agnes was in hospital, we were offered a room to stay in for free, so that we could stay as close to the hospital as possible instead of having an hour long trip each way to see her. Personally, this was particularly important once I had to return to work, where my fiancee could stay in Leeds and keep me updated day and night as to how she was doing. The Sick Children's Trust do an incredible job offering rooms for families to stay in when their newborn children are going through some of the most difficult starts in life and I can't thank them enough for allowing us to be near our little baby.

It costs them £30 a night to give a family a home from home so every pound helps

Agnes is now home, gaining weight and we couldn't be happier. She still has a difficult road ahead while her little lung (or little nemo flipper as we call it) catches up, her insides adjust to being near the right places and her scars heal, but without the Sick Children's Trust, this journey would have been so, so much harder.